What are meant by “August pick, October pick, and January pick” in the Presidential running mate selection?

There were words, ‘August pick, October pick, and January pick” in the article titled “Biden’s Brief - Obama picked his running-mate to help him govern,” appearing in New Yorker magazine October 20 issue. The article deals with the character and political records of Joe Biden who made a name in the recent vice presidential debate by making for President Obama’s lethargic representation in the preceding presidential debate.

The words appear in the following statement:

In 2004, when John Kerry was conducting his search for a running mate, he divided his options into three groups, based on the electoral calendar. “Kerry said you can pick either a Mr. August, a Mr. October, or a Mr. January,” David Wade, who was Kerry’s press secretary at the time and is now serving in that role for Biden, told me. “In a perfect world, you have someone who is all three.”

By Kerry’s logic, Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor, whom John McCain named as his running mate, was an August pick. An October pick tends to be political—someone with strong, even strident campaign skills, Kerry’s choice—John Edwards—may have fallen into that category.”

As I’m totally ignorant of political affairs in U.S., I have no idea about what August, October, and January pick mean, though I understand Mr. August, Mr. October, and Mr. January mean respectively those who are picked up as the presidential running-mate according to the political calendar.

Are they political jargons, or just an application of greengrocery terms? What do they mean?

Solution 1:

Oishi-san, it works this way in the political calendar:

An August pick happens around the time of the political conventions, and is calculated to arouse the party base.

An October pick is calculated to be a strong campaigner right before the election, which takes place on the first Tuesday of the following month.

A January pick, however, is someone who would be a good and competent Vice President after the inauguration. One supposes the January pick would be chosen only if the president needed no help to win the election, and was perceived as a shoo-in — the way Nixon was in 1972, say.

Solution 2:

In August, the political primary season is over, and the U.S. presidential race becomes essentially a two-person contest. A Mr. August will generate some excitement and buzz among voters who are learning about the running mate for the first time, and give their candidate a positive "bump" in the polls after the conventions are over.

In October, we're within a month of Election Day, and campaigning reaches a fervant pitch. There's usually a vice presidential debate. A Mr. October will perform well in that debate, and give rousing campaign speeches during the rest of the month.

Our election is held in early November, but the new administration doesn't take over until almost three weeks into January. A Mr. January, then, is one who will dispense sound advice over the course of the next four years, and help the elected president govern well.

The terms aren't all that commonly used in politics, but make sense within the context of the article. An ideal running mate will give a strong bump in the polls early on, campaign well down the stretch, and, if ultimately elected, be an effective advisor to the president during the next four years.

Outside politics, you might see such terms used from time-to-time; it seems relatively common in the world of sports, for example. The baseball player Reggie Jackson was given the nickname Mr. October, owing to his clutch hitting during the baseball playoffs, but that nickname also gets applied to other baseballers who have stellar postseason runs. As another example, the quarterback Philip Rivers was once dubbed Mr. December. I suppose the usages in sports and politics could be said to be related, since, in both cases, "Mr. [Insert Month Here]" refers to a perceptible boost in performance in said month.